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White Earth ricing promise
to be good despite market
By Mark Boswell
Editor
Despite poor expected market
prices and an on-going drought, wild
rice harvesting this year promises to
be relatively good said Dave Renke,
Wild Rice Business Manager for the
White Earth Reservation. Although,
he points out, it is difficult to
forecast any given year.
"So many factors are involved
with how the crop is doing," he said,
"we've found that we can help the
rice to a certain extent, but it's like
anything in the wild."
This year the condition of ricing
lakes on the White Earth
Reservation varies greatly from lake
to lake.
"Lower Rice Lake is good," said
Mike Swan, Biologist for White
Earth. "Basswood Lake is fair, but as
far as the refuge lakes go, some of
them are poor to fair, there's not
quite a crop like there was last year."
This year's drawing of permits for
lakes in the Tamarac Wildlife
Refuge on the reservation drew a
small crowd as compared to
previous years. Renke and others
believe that poor market prices for
rice have played a part in the
decreased interest in ricing on the
refuge. "Years ago," said Renke,
"we had up to 500 people at the
drawing, this year we had a small
turnout."
According to Swan, 145 people
attended the drawing, but only 61
permits were issued.
The number of permits issued in
any given year is dependent upon
the number of lakes that have rice in
them and the amount that can be
safely taken off a particular lake
without affecting future harvests.
"We go in to the lakes and try to
estimate how many boats a lake can
support," explained Swan. "There
were a lot of lakes that we went in to
and they were pretty poor, so we only
put one boat of some of these lakes.
We had some Fish and Wildlife
Service people fly over the lakes to
try to determine how many boats
would be permittted on the lake."
Swan said there are a few lakes in
the refuge that have little or no rice
beds on them. Boats will not be
permitted on them in hopes that the
rice will re-seed itself for future years.
Marketing problems
Another factor in the lack of interest
in ricing is the poor market value
introduced by paddy rice. Large
commercial operations have glutted
the market with what many believe
are illegal labelling techniques.
"The state is not really enforcing
any labelling laws," said Swan, who
is also a member of the Minnesota
Hand Harvested Wild Rice
Association.
"Many companies use misleading
marketing techniques," explained
Swan, "saying that it's lake or Indian
harvest wild rice. Some of these
paddy rice growers use Indian logos
or pictures of Indians in canoes to
sell their product.
"It misrepresents the product in
either in the labelling itself or in the
way its processed," said Swan. The
hand harvesters association wants
this type of labelling to stop. "The
State Department of Agriculture has
no way of determining what is
what," said Swan.
He compares the situation to the
recent drive to market real dairy
products with a particular logo.
"That's what we're tyring to shoot
for but nobody's going along with
this," said Swan. "They don't really
make much money off hand
harvesting so we don't have much
political power," he said.
"Ten years ago there was 12,000
harvest permits sold. Last year there
were barely 1,000 permits sold by
the state. You had some through the
reservations, but this was a big
decline in that time," said Swan.
See related story page 1.
Questions of quality
According to Swan there are
definite differences and problems
with paddy rice.
"They're trying to go with this
organically certified hand-harvested
wild rice," said Swan, "If you were a
chemist, you've got to look at many
things. When they do the testing of
the rice, they test the water. They
don't test the sediments, and that's
where the crop gets.it's nutrients."
Swan explained that paddy rice is
grown using phosphorous and
nitrogen rich fertilizers. When the
crop comes to maturity the lake is
drained and the rice is taken out
using a combine or similar
machinery. The water, rich in
artificial fertilizers, can contaminate
other bodies of water, causing
over-growth of vegetation and algae;
this can upset the oxygen levels in
lakes and rivers killing other aquatic
life including fish.
Paddy rice grown in this fashion
produces a plumper, larger kernel,
but may be lacking in nutrient
richness and carry harmful residues.
"Paddy rice is grown in optimum
conditions," said Renke, but he
. explained that it has drawbacks, "the
problem that people point out with it
is the use of herbicides and pesticides
like malathione for rice worms. On
the reservations, you don't have any
of that. It's sort of like the survival of
the fittest." He explained that the rice
kernels might be smaller, but they are
richer in nutrient and do not contain
chemical residues.
"Genetically, there is no difference
between the paddy rice and the wild
rice growing on the reservations,"
said Renke, "the difference is in the
way the rice is grown."
Currently, there are many
Chosa picks running mate
Heart Warrior Chosa, Minnesota's
first Native American woman
candidate for Governor, announced
her running mate for Lt. Governor at
a rally and press conference at the
State Capitol. His name is Steve
Hesch-Bruggeman, from St. Cloud.
According to Chosa, he operates a
Montessori School and teaches
there. He also belongs to "Brother
Peace" where he does
consciousness-raising and counsels
groups of men who have abused
women and children, Chosa says.
Chosa received notification from
the state that her name will be on the
official Minnesota election ballot.
Her concerns are: attention to the
environment, establishment of
advisory boards consisting of a
Women's Council, an Elders
Council, a Native American Council
and a People of Color Council.
She has been invited by the
Greater Minneapolis Chamber of
Commerce to participate in a
breakfast session for candidates
August 14 at the Atrium in the
International Market Square,
Minneapolis. It is expected that
about 1,000 representatives of Twin
Cities' businesses will be on hand to
listen to each candidate and to ask
questions.
Wellstone will meet public
in Cass Lake on Friday
Paul Wellstone, State DFL
endorsed candidate for the U.S.
Senate, will present his campaign
platform and be available to
answer questions from the media
and general public during the
Friday morning, Aug. 17, at Cass
Lake.
The Leech Lake Reservation
Business Committee is sponsoring
a "Fireside Chat" with Wellstone
from 9 to 11 a.m. in the Minnesota
Chippewa Tribal Chambers
located in the Reservation Facility
Center at Cass Lake. Refreshments
will be served.
"It is our hope to provide the
people in our area an opportunity
to hear Paul Wellstone and his
views on key issues important to
us," said Daniel Brown, LLRBC
chairman. "During this time,
anyone is free to ask questions and
make comments on any issue
important to them."
Prior to his appearance at the
Facility Center, Wellstone plans to
tour the Cass Lake Indian Hospital
and the offices of the RBC, and
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.
Wellstone, a 45-year-old
Carleton College political science
professor, has said he intends to
run an issue-oriented campaign to
unseat Rudy Boschwitz.
In 1988 Wellstone co-chaired the
Michael Dukakis campaign, and
the core of that Minnesota Dukakis
campaign now makes up the core
of Wellstone's Senate campaign
organization.
Among other
accomplishments, Wellstone
worked in 1983-84 for Gov.
Rudy Perpich as the director of
the Governor's Community
Energy Program, helped write
the "Save the Family Farm Act",
also known as the
Harkin/Gephardt alternative to
Reagan's 1985 farm bill; has
organized efforts to increase the
voting participation of low
income, rural and urban citizens;
and helped author landmark
voter registration legislation.
Wellstone is a prolific writer and
has been a full professor at
Carleton College in Northfield
since 1969.
Former IHS director to serve prison sentence
Alan Allery, former Bemidji Area
Indian Health Service Director, must
surrender himself on Aug. 20 to
Federal authorities to begin serving
his sentence of a year and a day in
the Federal Prison Camp in Duluth
Minn., according to the U.S.
Marshalls office.
Allery was convicted for two
counts of filing false travel vouchers
while employed by IHS in 1988; he
was indicted on three counts last
year.
Allery appealed the Federal District
Court conviction in 8th Circuit Court
of Appeal in July of 1989.
The appeal was denied in Federal
District Court in St. Louis on June
4th. Court documents indicate that
the court "had disposed on the case
on proper grounds on June 4th,
1990".
producers of paddy rice both in
Minnesota and in places as far away
as California."
According to authorities, Leech
Lake has the potential to be the
biggest producer of hand harvested
wild rice. Many bays and shallow
areas in Leech Lake and in Lake
Winnibigoshish provide large tracts
of natural growth wild rice. However,
the tracts are susceptible to loss
because of the size of the lakes and
the possibility of harvest season
storms. "They could have a boom one
year," said Renke, "and a bust the
next year because of the weather."
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